It's the fight this city's been waiting for: Pups against the children. Who will win the battle of cuddliness? Times culture-war reporter Alex Mindlin braves the Manichean battlelines on the future of West Village's Seravalli Playground. Neighborhood arrivistes want a dog run installed for their bichons and puggles to run free in; parents want more play space for their Bugaboo toddlers. A recent community meeting served as their Waterloo.

Both sides showed up in force at a community meeting Monday, where the tone was set by a neon-green hand-lettered poster that read, "Keep Our Park Dog-Free." Sydney Diaz, 2, painstakingly colored in the letters, while her mother, Nancy Lublin, chatted with other parents amid a tangle of strollers.

"I think the dog owners just arrived," Ms. Lublin said, gesturing with a slice of pizza toward the front of the room. "They're the people over there, who don't have spit-up on them."